Monday, June 24, 2013

We went to my parent's house for lunch with the usual suspects and most of my dad's side of the family. It was the first time they all had seen Em & M & Ellie, so that was fun.

I had just gotten a new phone the day before and it didn't have a cover on it yet. Since my previous phone and phone before that both had shattered screens, I was crazy nervous about even looking at my phone, let alone pulling it out to take pictures. I know, I'm crazy! So no pictures from my phone, but plenty from my mom's :)

We went over to Michael's family's house for dinner. The girls got to meet a bunch of new family over there, too! I didn't pull my phone out until close to the end because, well, paranoia. But I snapped a few pictures :)

Bryson had the BEST time playing with Piper. He was so thrilled to have another kid to play with :)

We are so thankful for such wonderful, Godly dads that taught us both the importance of family, that God always comes first, and to be silly and to always find the joy in life. We are so blessed!

And Michael. He is the greatest Daddy I could ever have dreamed of for our three kids. Watching him play with Bryson and the girls makes my heart smile. When my patience is lacking, his is still strong. He is constantly encouraging and uplifting. I am so so thankful he is by my side.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

They're growing out of thee newborn look and looking more like babies :)

We've gotten many more smile and coos this month and it so much fun. They don't talk nearly as much as Bryson did at this age, so maybe they're going to be a little more reserved and laid back? Ha, who knows! :)

They're personalities are continuing to develop. They really seem to have the same patterns as in my tummy. When I was pregnant, I had to do kick counts with Emily just to make sure she was still there some days while Madelynn was beeboppin' away 24/7. And now, Emily is usually pretty content just sitting in her bumbo or laying on the ground while Madelynn likes to always have something infront of her to keep her attention. I'll lay them both on the ground to go help Bryson or rotate laundry and come back 2 minutes later and Em is in the exact spot chewing on her hands and Madelynn has completely done a 180 spin and still moving. :)

Both of them chew on their hands like mad. They try to hard to shove them in as hard and far back as they can and they get choked up on them, pull them out, catch their breath and then repeat the whole process over again.

Right after they turned 3 months, I decided I was going to do whatever it took to make them learn how to sleep on their backs in their own cribs. They were so used to being all cramped and cozy in my tummy and then swaddled tightly in their inclined bouncy chairs, that when they were laying flat in their open cribs, they just freaked out. I spent a loooong time trying to help them adjust, but most nights, out of pure exhaustion, I just ended up putting them in their chairs and they were sound asleep within seconds. I don't know if their reflux bothers them or it just that's what they know and love.

I've been sleeping in their room (thank goodness we decided to put a bed in there!) for the past couple weeks because they wake up so often in the middle of the night. I have tried eeeeverything to get them to stay asleep. I know their little bodies need continuous sleep and so do I! Some nights it's back to the newborn days where I'm lucky if I get 4 hours in.

Last week, Emily rolled over in her sleep and slept of her stomach. She slept so great!!! I was thrilled!! Sadly, she only did it a couple times and now has seemed to forget how to roll. I tried "helping" her a few times, but no way Jose. If she can't do it herself, she's not having it at all. You better believe we practice rolling over often during the day :)

These poor girls hardly sleep at all. They are awful sleepers at night and only cat nap during the day. 30 mins here, 45 mins there. I knoooow they are so sleepy, but they just cant sleep. They just cry and scream instead. Most days they cry so much that I can hardly put them down for a diaper change without streams of tears. :(

Both of them still completely refuse bottles. As in, they scream like crazy as soon as it's in their mouth. I love love nursing them, but it would be so nice to be able to give them a bottle once in a while. Also so I know exactly how much they eat. I always worry that they're not getting enough.

That being said, we started solids a week before they turned 4 months. I started out with oatmeal and they both loved it! I'm only doing it here and there until we have their 4 month checkup to make sure their dr is on board.

They nurse great. I still tandem feed them during the day and separately at night. They usually eat every 2.5 hours during the day and usually have one long stretch of 7ish hours at night (between feedings, but not consistent sleep)

SO, basically, in a nut shell: they are grumpy, sleepy, hungry girls.

My heart aches watching them so sad all day long. I tried everything trying to make them happy.

So finally, a week before they turned 4 months, I decided to stop giving them Zantac, their reflux medicine. There is rarely ever a negative side effect with the medicine, but I was desperate. I didn't care if all their reflux came back, I just needed to rule it out.

Folks. Within a day of having them off of it, we saw a huge, humongous, amazing difference in them!! I couldn't believe it!! Not a single tear ALL day long!! Fortunately, it was on Father's Day, so we had a lovely, peaceful day!! I still can't believe how terribly they reacted to the medicine. I REALLY started to enjoy the girls and being silly with them. Since they were on Zantac for 2 months, I feel like they missed out on a full 2 months of strengthening their little bodies with floor time. So now, we're playing catch up big time!!

Once they were off the medicine, we finally decided it was ok to put them in the nursery at church. There was no way I was going to drop them off for a few hours and just let them scream them whole time. But we took them and they were great!! No grumps at all! I was thrilled! It was so good for me to be in church. It was so good for my soul :) Emily with her first {of many) church tag

We had their 4 month check up a week and a half after they turned 4 months.

So they were off Zantac for 2 weeks. During the daytime got a million times better, but nothing changed at night, We were still up with the girls for hours and hours with them screaming. It was awful. Their doctor was incredibly perplexed as to why they had such a terrible reaction to Zantac, but 100% sure they still they had reflux, which is why sleeping was so terrible for them. He prescribed Previcid and hesitantly, I gave it to them. It seemed to help a lot! (more on this in their 5 month post...)

Anyway, their checkup went great! He was very pleased at their growth and development. Always music to a worried momma's ears!!

I had to take the girls to the appointment by myself this time, so it was no fun trying to juggle them for their shots :( But they did awesome. It was waaay past their nap time, so they passed completely out afterwards and ended up taking a 3 hour nap!! A Huuuuge change from the normal 30 min nap!!

Monday, June 17, 2013

I just found out the greatest news. I can blog from my phone! (What rock have I been hiding under!??) There's hope for this little ol blog after all! Since most of my pictures are on my phone, I can blog when I'm up for hours on end In the middle of the night. Ha! Just ignore all the typos :)

Anyway, the girls had their first food today! I've been toying with the idea of starting them on oatmeal for a few weeks and went ahead and tried it out today.

The girls absolutely positively completely refuse a bottle. I get nervous that they're not getting enough to eat since I can't tell how much they're actually consuming. They always seem full and satisfied after a feeding, but I'm fantastic at second guessing myself, especially this time around. Plus, it will give them a little added time to work on the motor skills of spoon feeding before they're really ready for solids.

I wasn't really expecting they would eat very much, especially since they are on the younger side for oatmeal. I nursed them first and then we were ready to go.

They did AMAZING!! Like they've been eating it for months. Both of them were all smiles the entire time!!

Madelynn enjoyed it the most, I think. When I went over to feed Em, she would start grunting and kicking her feet until I came back to her :)

Em was pretty happy too :)

They did so so much better at keeping it in their mouths than I was expecting :) They only ended up eating probably a couple teaspoons, but I was thrilled :)